A residential development site at Margaret Drive has just been launched for sale under the URA Confirmed List of the 1H2024 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. The 99-year leasehold site spans 102,497 sq ft and can yield about 460 residential units.

According to Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex, the height of the buildings in that area will mean that North-facing units on the upper floors of the resulting development will likely have unblocked views.

Nearby HDB estates like Skyville @ Dawson, Skyterrace @ Dawson and Cityvue @ Henderson have seen million-dollar resale transactions, says Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. This could provide a potential pool of demand for the HDB upgraders in the area.

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The Margaret Drive site is located within walking distance of the Queenstown MRT Station. It is also near schools such as Queenstown Primary and Secondary School and Queensway Secondary School.

The last GLS site that was sold in Queenstown was at Sterling Road in 2018. The site was acquired for $1 billion, or $1,050 psf ppr, by Hong Kong-listed developer Logan Property Holdings and Chinese developer Nanshan Group. It has since been developed into the 1,259-unit Sterling Residences. The development was completed and fully sold in 2022, selling at a median price of $1,830 psf. The median resale prices for the project has since increased by 23.8% since it launched in 2018, reaching $2,266 psf this year.

Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore, predicts that the Margaret Drive site may draw bids of between $1,150 and $1,250 psf ppr. This would reflect an absolute price between $494 million and $537 million for the site, he adds.

Chu expects the future residential project at Margaret Drive to attract HDB upgraders in the wake of higher HDB resale prices. The median price of 4-room and larger HDB flats in Queenstown is already at $908,000, he says.